Certifiable proof that Dirk Nowitzki is on the verge of making his season debut arrived Monday.
Holger Geschwindner was at practice.
That doesn't necessarily mean we will get a Nowitzki sighting in uniform Tuesday against Portland in the opener of a challenging back-to-back set of games that ends in New Orleans Wednesday.
But it can be taken as a good sign that Nowitzki, who had left ankle surgery in April and has been recovering since, is nudging ever-closer to starting his 21st season. Then again, Nowitzki's longtime mentor usually comes to Dallas from Germany four times a season and sometime around the holidays is pretty typical.